It looks like I will have to set my sights on an area a little closer to home since the high price of gas is screwing me somewhat. Abandoning Mississippi is not an option but a new stomping ground would be welcome. Pennsylvania will fit that bill perfectly and the first trip is planned for the end of this month. As usual, urban areas will be avoided because I favor America’s very small towns. The 8×10 will be with me since I have rediscovered the absolute beauty of 8×10 negatives enlarged to 16×20. Digital simply can’t touch the quality and it never will.

 

Stay tuned since I will be with my laptop illustrating my posts with digital images. The trip is planned for March 22-30, weather permitting!

 

 

It finally happened last night. The cashier at Shoneys tactfully asked if I qualified for a senior discount. It wasn’t that I looked old but the frock of gray hair that gave me away - at least that is the way it was explained to me. I supposed it was to happen soon anyway.

 

New Years Eve was spent cleaning and loading film holders while watching back to back episodes of Greens & Grains on TBS. They were actually quite funny. The Harrison Film Changing Tent has worked out quite well. Being made in America gives me confidance that I will not be poisoned by lead or other toxins.

 

I do not understand where all the time has gone? My time in Vicksburg has passed with lightning speed. The past four days have seen clear blue skys with cool temps. Today I will return to Preacher’s for conversation and photography. Unfortunately, today will be cooler with temps only in the low 30’s. Better than Rochester which is in the teens. Tomorrow will begin the trip home and face the realities dismissed during a vacation.

 

Edwards is a small railroad town which fell into disrepair as soon as the parallel Interstate was built. It has some great Christmas decorations and advertising signs as well as abandoned buildings. Raymond is pretty clean cut and with outstanding holiday decorations in the village circle. The sky is a clear blue like yesterday which is a real Mississippi rarity this time of the year.

 

The motel has been great with an unlimited supply of hot water with a well appointed room. I especially enjoy the faux tiger maple laminate on the tables. It would be nice to find boards this figured at the lumber yard! As at all motels with a free breakfast it leaves something to be desired.  It emphasizes the four food groups: carbs, sugar, fats & empty calories. I guess it’s off to McDonalds for a couple of Egg McMuffins!?

 

No trip to visit Preacher today. On my last visit he quizzed me  concerning my knowledge of the Bible and in his estimation I require salvation which includes a healthy dose of preaching! He could be right.

 

Four hours were spent yesterday afternoon with 93 year old Rev. Dennis and his wife Margaret which turned out to be quite a living history lesson. The Rev. began telling me animated stories about his upbringing until the age of 10 by his grandmother who was a former slave and how he ran away at the age of 12 escaping the abuse of his father for not picking enough cotton. I left amazed and blessed - these are stories that need to be recorded for histories sake. Today I will return with the 8×10 camera, if the weather permits, and photograph the transformed Margaret’s Grocery. The Reverend related to me that for years he traveled to Leland in order to tend to the grave site of the plantation owners who actually educated and raised him from the ages of 12 - 19. I would like to motor there and get some photos of the site.

 

Before I left, the Reverend and Margaret gave me a blessing consisting of a brand new $2 bill - I had them autograph it.

 

This blog is not as edited as I would like but I just wanted to get the information out and I am anxious to get some breakfast and hit the road!

 

There is a gallery on my web site at http://www.edgarpraus.com/galleries/mississippi/

 

Afternoon report:

Today was very productive. I spent the morning shooting 8×10 in the city of Vicksburg and at Rev. Dennis’s shrine. I attempted to get the location of the graves of those who raised him in Leland so that I could photograph them but ran into a brick wall on that one. The afternoon was spent photographing with the 120 outfit - storefronts with lots of character were the order of the day. Small world, I met a local photographer who shoots 11×14 B&W! Tomorrow I head for Edwards with the 8×10 - The weather is predicted to be sunny again. Time is flying by…

 

1304 miles, 23 hours & 2 minutes and 60.5 gallons of gas later I am camped out in room 135 at the Battlefield Inn in Vicksburg - my home for the next 6 days. No matter how hard I try I can never leave the house before 10 AM and the result was that I had to drive four hours in the dark in the mountains of WV. I don’t find that much fun anymore since I can’t watch the landscape unfold. Then when I arrived at my motel in Wytheville the heat was either on full blast or off. The result was switching between roasting or freezing. To add insult to injury, there was no hot water at all available at 6 AM. This particular Red Roof property was originally a Holiday Inn or something like it and it is my belief that they were sold a lemon. My first thought was to complain at the front desk checkout clerk didn’t bother to ask me if I enjoyed my stay and to be truthful I don’t she really gave a rat’s ass. So I let it go.

 

One of my traditions was to “dine” once at the Waffle House. Not any more since my last episode in Chattanooga. There is a W.H. next to the motel so I wandered over and placed myself at the counter. That seems to be the best seat in the house since I can observe the dynamics of the servers vs. the cooks. On that occasion I observed my surly waitress prepare a juliann salad by thrusting her bare hands in all the toppings. The only thing that was missing was falling cigarette ashes! Needless to say, I ordered something that could not be touched by human hands. I went past the place yesterday and noticed a pool of solidified grease under the exterior exhaust fan. I should have had a digital camera at hand to record it and post it as well. I actually have one coming from the phone company as a gift for signing a three year contract.

 

I used to write a regular column in a national magazine but I found it an exercise in stiffness - this is so much more fun!

 

I will add & edit more tomorrow…

 

This comes from the March/April 2007 issue of Photo Techniques:

 

“It should come as no surprise that though there are now millions of digital cameras around the world, there aren’t as many millions of digital photographers who back up their photos.  …Symantec commissioned a poll of 2,227 consumers that revealed 89% of them own a digital camera or camera phone but about one-third of digicam owners don’t back up their digital images. …So presumably many photographers are depending on their digicam memory cards or their PC’s hard drive for storage, but memory cards can get lost or broken and ALL hard drives eventually fail. Comments about backing up photos on a BBC Web site included “How many people ever backed up their film-based photos? Most people kept the negatives and the prints in the same envelope.” And, “I think it will be ok if we lose a couple of billion photos of chopped off heads and red eyes.”

 

My personal theory is that there will be a “Photo Armageddon” where millions of CD’s will fail in a short amount of time!

 

Photo Techniques is an exceptional publication covering both digital and traditional photography. Check out their Web site at www.phototechmag.com.

 

The “train pulls out of the station” next week for Mississippi and I am already packing the photo gear. Loading 8×10 holders in motel rooms has always been problematic so I purchased a Harrison film loading tent - it seems a little small but I suppose I will get used to it. In the past I have used duct tape to seal myself into a bathroom after dark with a towel at the bottom of the door. Sitting backwards on the toilet and using the water tank as a table worked but space was limited and besides, the porcelain is slippery resulting in the film holders slamming on the floor.  On one trip I used so much duct tape that I pulled all the paint off the door frame and some of the wall. The manager must have scratched his head and cursed on that one. I don’t understand how dust can’t accumulate in that small tent and of course land in the sky area!

 

A small nitrogen tank has always been used to blow out the holders before making an exposure but the problem with that is a barking black Labrador. She gets wigged out with the noise and all eyes fall upon me - something I try to avoid.

 

I have also paid off all my gas cards - too bad I can’t say the same for AMEX.

 

I realize that it’s been some time since I blogged and I have no defense.

 

Things have not been standing still. B&W Magazine www.bandwmag.com published my work in Issue 55 as a “Spotlight” with a page of text and a six image spread.

 

I also spent a couple of weeks in West Virginia photographing storefronts. I have started working on a portfolio of original silver prints presented in a handmade case.  There will be 12 images and 15 portfolios produced - everything is archival. At this point I am editing images and interviewing craftsman to produce the cases. More details later.

 

Finally, on December 26 I will leave for Mississippi with my 8×10 view camera. I want to spend much of my time at Margaret’s Grocery www.arts.state.ms.us/folklife/artist.php?dirname=margarets_grocery in Vicksburg. Visiting them is a life enhancing experience resulting in great conversation and some pretty good photos as well. My goal is to shoot both B&W and color negative film. I just purchased a Refrema processor and am anxious to see those luscious prints only a large negative can produce. Digital simply can’t touch the quality. With my new laptop I plan to blog every day - so stay tuned!

 

I would have to categorize the trip south between Christmas and New Years as a resounding success even though my “production” of images was less than expected. The weather cooperated but my eyes did not keep up. The trip down through W. Virginia was not without its perils. After dark the rain came in and the temperature hovered around freezing. One eye was kept on the road and the other on the thermometer. I had visions of black ice and a rollover. Been through that before. When the party was over I was on the roof with the usual rubbernecking commuters.

 

My attempt to photograph the military park using old locations from 1950’s postcards was total bust. Most of the locations were gone or so contrived that they made no sense. The best day was when it was pouring rain (3-inches that day) and I took the mutt for a run at the Wisconsin monument. She was absolutely drenched but never so happy!

 

Heading back March 18….

An article about my work that appeared in the Vicksburg Post on January 20, 2007. Download the file in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.